The Fox and The Basterds
by LonesomeDove
Summary: Elise Hellstrom's life turned upside down with the backstabbing of her husband. Now armed with knowledge and weapons, she attracted the attentions of The Basterds, and one ravaged German soul.
1. Part 1: Irish Temper

Elise Hellstrom laid in bed beside her snoring husband; she was remembering every possible detail that she could of his handsome face.

He looked so serene, so relaxed, it was a nice look considering that he has been looking so stressed and mad these past few months, he loved her so, but she couldn't even bare to look at him anymore, and he understood why, but did absolutely nothing to stop it.

Dieter finally started to stir, and woke up and stared into his wife's big gray eyes that were staring at him intently.

The day he married Elise was a day he's never forget. Elise was an angel coming down the aisle, he had never seen someone so absolutely beautiful in his entire life, and her fiery red hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves reminded him so much of the sunset that he smiled at her. When she finally made it to the altar, he lifted the veil to stare into those big doe gray eyes that he loved so much. Dieter was the luckiest man alive, and still was the luckiest man alive, until the war started, and Elise slowly found out what was really going on.

Once Elise figured out what the Fuher was doing, she was furious; Dieter had no idea that a woman of her small size could be that full of rage and violence.

Elise was Irish, but grew up in France, her Irish accent lost from growing up in France her entire life, but very rarely, it would come out when she was really pissed, or really drunk. Amazingly, Dieter came home to find her both, extremely pissed, and inebriated.

"Would you mind telling me 'xactly what ye're doing?" she had spun around when he entered the parlor, a bottle of whiskey in one hand, and the other had already been placed firmly on her hip.

"What do you mean, Miene Liebe?" Dieter went ahead and poured himself a glass of whiskey and turned to look at her.

"I mean, kil'en all those innocent Jews, Dieter, these death camps that are set up all over Germany that YE'REFuher is sending all the Jewish families."

Dieter winced, he never wanted to inform Elise about those camps, but she had a lot of Jewish friends back in France, of course sooner or later she'd find out.

"That's just how war works; you have to do away with the people that stand in your way to be on top. It's just one of the negative things people like us have to face!"

Instantly he regretted what he said, looking over at Elise he realized how big of a mistake it was. Her mouth was gaping at him, her gray eyes were full of tears. Before he could even apologize, she stepped forward, raising a hand to point at his face.

"YOU, Dieter Hellstrom, you are nothing but a worthless, murdering Nazi asshole, I never want to speak to you EVER again!" she then threw the whiskey bottle at him. She had very good aim, Dieter found out, as the glass bottle then smashed into his head, then as it fell to the floor only to shatter, she stormed from the room.

Quickly, Dieter snapped back into the present as he felt Elise slowly sliding from the bed, he watched as she slipped on her silky bath robe and walk into the washroom, he sighed as he then too, got out of the comfy bed.

Today, Hans Landa and Frederick Zoller were coming to visit. Elise hasn't even spoken to Dieter in almost two months, after her Jewish friends became victims of the Gestapo. He knew damn good and well she hated both of these men, she hated all German officers actually, be he couldn't say no to his superiors.

Elise finally finished brushing her hair, and stepped back into the bedroom. She sighed when she saw Dieter standing in front of the window, wearing nothing but his black pants and boots.

Dieter turned when he heard her enter, he smiled lovingly at her, she quickly twitched up the side of her mouth and turned to her wardrobe.

"Elise, honestly we cannot keep living this way, it has been months since I have seen you smile." Dieter reached out to grasp her arm, and she quickly jerked her arm away.

"Damn it, Elise! We are married, you're going to have to look past this war and remember the days you loved me through hell and high waters!"

"No, Dieter, I cannot look past you killing innocent women and children because of their religion, no, I'm sorry, I cannot love you anymore since you have such a part in this."

"So after the war, what then?" Dieter's fists were balled up at his side, his knuckles were white.

"I'm going back to Ireland, and you can enjoy your killings while our divorce goes through."

Dieter froze up and stared at her. "So this is it, then?" he whispered softly.

"Yes it is." She whispered back, Dieter then turned and grabbed his shirt from off the back of the chair and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Elise then sunk down into the chair and sighed heavily.


	2. Part 2: Bloody Hands

Dieter Hellstrom went against everything by marrying an Irish woman, but ever since the day they met, no one could ever make Elise's heart pound the way he did.

The thing that hurt her the most was that he never said no, all of their Jewish neighbors were now gone for good. All of their children were in a concentration camp somewhere, if not dead. All of her friends from France were chased from their homes, and Dieter had a part in all of it.

Elise stood up and started to get dressed, putting on her pale green pencil skirt, a loose white blouse, and her tan stilettos, she rubbed some rouge into her cheeks and tossed her long hair up into a loose bun.

She then headed downstairs, passing through the kitchen that was bustling with urgency to fix the right meal for their "special guests." She smiled at the cook before stepping outside onto the gazebo.

Her smile went ear to ear as the aroma from her rose garden wafted up and into her lungs, she closed her eyes and let the sun warm her face.

Her garden was the one place she could always go whenever she needed to relax, clear her head, or find some inspiration for her next painting.

"I wish I could make you smile like that." Elise jumped, not having known Dieter was there on the gazebo. "I'm sorry, Elise, I didn't mean to scare you." He smiled warmly at her, "Let's go for a walk." He held his arm out for her to take, and instead of fighting, she took it.

Dieter started on the path that led into her garden. "You look very beautiful today, Miene Liebe."

"Thank you," Elise stared at her feet, only glancing every few minutes at her husband's handsome face.

"Do you remember the day we first met?" Elise couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, we were such fools." She answered.

"It was love at first sight for me. You looked like an angel walking out of the flower shop, your arms full of the brightest flowers, but your face out glowed them all." He grinned at her.

"Yes," Elise laughed, "you walked right into that light pole and it knocked you out cold." She laughed again.

Dieter laughed too, seeing his wife finally laughing was euphoria to him. "Yes, but when I came to, you were leaning over me, trying your best to hide your smile."

"Yes, and then you asked me if I could assist you because it appeared that a sly fox had knocked you off your feet."

Dieter then stopped and pulled Elise close to his chest, "And ever since, you have been my fox."

Elise smiled up at him, she loved this, she loved this old feeling of warmth and love that she used to find in his arms, she hadn't felt this way in so long. Slowly, Dieter lowered his head, and she closed her eyes, leaning in for the kiss, it had been months since they had shared a moment of love.

"Ah! Hellstrom, there you are!" Dieter immediately turned away and saluted the two men walking towards them.

Dieter had jerked away so fast that it knocked Elise off balance, and she stumbled into the rose bushes, grasping them to keep from falling. The thorns pierced her palm and she let out a slight whimper and jumped back, landing in Frederick Zoller's chest.

"Ah, Mrs. Hellstrom, fiery as ever I see!" Landa said with an amused smile. Oh how Elise wanted to smack it off his face.

Before she could throw an insult at Landa, Dieter grabbed her hands and looked at her palms. "You better go wash the blood off before you get it everywhere."

Elise pulled her hands out of his grasp, "Yes, of course, you men obviously have enough blood on your hands already." She said politely before walking back to the house.

"Why, Hellstrom, I think your wife is upset." Landa stated.

"Yes, these days she's always full of something." Dieter watched as Elise disappeared into the house, he wanted so much to go after her, kiss those soft lips, to carry her upstairs, and make love to her until she curled up into his arms and fell asleep.

Dieter finally turned to the two men in front of him, "Who else needs a drink?"


	3. Part 3: The Studio

Elise was sitting in the drawing room reading a novel when the loud voices finally caught her attention.

"Why, Hellstrom, you should see Paris since we chased out all of those rats! The streets are so much cleaner, the lights so much brighter!" Elise threw her book down, she was so mad she was shaking, Hans Landa pissed her off so much, she could just kill the man!

She was too dazed off thinking of all the horrible things that she would love to do to Hans Landa that when her maid, Rosie, cleared her throat to get her attention she almost fell out of the chair.

"Sorry, Mrs. Hellstrom, but lunch is ready, will you be taking it to your studio?"

"Yes, Rosie, you know just how I like it." She winked at the housemaid and Rosie smiled at her.

"Oh, Rosie, where is my husband?" Elise asked, noticing she didn't hear them anymore.

"Mr. Hellstrom took Frederick Zoller into town ma'am, the other guests are in their rooms, eating and resting, the coast is clear, I put all of them in the west wing, away from your studio."

Elise smiled at the old lady as she scurried from the room and returned with a tray full of food and glasses with milk and wine. She thanked the kind woman as she took the food from her and headed toward her studio in the eastern wing.

She was almost to her studio, when Hans Landa stepped from around the corner.

"Ah, Mrs. Hellstrom." She jumped, but managed to hold onto the tray of food and glasses.

"Detective Landa, you gave me a good fright." Elise said dramatically, putting her hand on her pounding heart.

Elise Hellstrom looked incredibly flustered, Hans Landa grinned to himself. "Oh, well I'm sorry, I was just admiring your house, it's very lovely."

"Oh, it's quite alright, I just didn't expect anyone to see anyone on this end of the house, we roomed all of your men on the west wing."

"Yes, I'm aware of that." He was looking at her too closely. She swore he could probably see her heart pounding on her ribcage.

"Well, you seem to have tons of refreshments, Mrs. Hellstrom, but I'm curious, why are you carrying so much food in an apparent vacant end of your home?"

"I was heading to my studio, Detective. I do tend to spend long hours in there painting, so I get hungry, I'm sure you understand." Hans Landa had a very serious look on his face, his eyes had a deadly glint to them.

Elise finally went to push past him and continue on to her studio, but Hans Landa grabbed her arm in a tight grip.

"Excuse me, Detective, your hurting my arm." Instead of letting go, he squezzed harder, causing her to drop the tray, the various glasses shattering and the food scattering all over the floor. "I said, your hurting me! Now let go!" she tried jerking away from him, but to no avail, he just pulled her to him.

"You, Mrs. Hellstrom, have been a very bad girl."

Elise started to scream.


	4. Part 4: FireBurnt Eyes

Dieter was so very tired, he had heard enough about Frederick Zoller's heroic deeds, that he could probably re-enact them by heart. He was so ready to get home and try to pick up where he left off with Elise.

But as he pulled up to his house, he almost died of shock at the scene going on in his front yard. Elise was being held by two soldiers, her hair had been torn from her bun and was now blowing wildly around her face, which was bruised and bloody.

He jumped from the vehicle before it had come to a stop and ran to her.

"Landa! What is the meaning of this?!" he roared, he then noticed the four people kneeling in front of them.

Elise was fighting to get free from the two soldiers and they kicked the back of her legs and she hit the ground hard, but kept struggling, he didn't know who was having a harder time, her trying to get away, or the soldiers trying to hold her.

Landa then turned to Dieter with a devilish smile across his face. "You see, Hellstrom, your sweet wife over there has been harboring enemies of the state, inside your very own home."

Dieter's eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open as he turned back to his wife, "Is this true?" He gasped when he looked into her eyes.

Elise's gray eyes held a fire that he had never seen before, her lip and nose were bleeding and her left eye was slowly swelling shut and turning blue. "They are not enemies of the state, Dieter. They are a family, they are just like the rest of you!" she yelled the last part to the soldiers standing there in the yard.

"No, my little girl, they are threats to our cause, to us." Hans Landa explained as he walked over to stand beside Dieter.

"How has a two year old ever threatened you?!" the fire in her eyes was so bright that Dieter wondered how Landa hasn't caught fire yet.

"You always have to think ahead, Fraulein." He said turning around.

"Dieter, please! The boy is only two! The girl is five, please, they deserve a chance at life." Elise was sobbing at this point, but the fire in her eyes was still there.

Dieter turned around to look at the family, the wife was holding the small girl, she was silently crying and rocking the girl whispering soothing words in her ear, pressing the small girls face into her chest, shielding her face. The father was holding the small boy, but the father was paying no mind to the little boy, instead he sat there with his head bowed, praying to a god that Dieter didn't believe in. the small boy was staring at Dieter, his small brown eyes full of curiosity and worry.

"Please Dieter." He turned back to Elise, she was begging, her words barely even a whisper.

Dieter looked at Landa, "Kill them."

Before Elise could scream again, he knocked her out with the butt of his gun.

Elise finally came to with a very sharp pounding in her head, she felt extremely dizzy and nauseous. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in her bed, Dieter was sitting in the bed side chair and was staring at her.

"Hello." He whispered. She gave him a look of utter disgust, and he looked away. "I'm leaving for France, thought I'd tell you that Landa's soldiers will be staying here until we return."

Elise stood up, her head started to spin and she grabbed the bed for support. Dieter had jumped up and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

"Don't fucking touch me." She jerked her arm out of his grasp and walked to the window. She fell to the floor at the site of the four dead bodies that were laying in a bloody heap in her yard.

"Elise, are you ok?" Dieter asked rushing to help her to her feet, but she stopped him immediately when she raised her hand up.

"Don't come near me! You fucking bastard, leave my fucking sight, do not expect me to ever touch you again except to kill you, you heartless son of a bitch! I hope you die in France!"

"I'm sorry Elise, but it had to be done, I hope you feel better by morning, goodbye."

With that he left, he had no idea that she didn't plan to even be in this country by morning.


	5. Part 5: Cat and the Mouse

Jean Dubuffet was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, but even that couldn't bring forth happiness into his life. His wife died only two years after being married, and she never bore him any children, so he was extremely lonely. When he heard of a moron in Ireland that was gambling away his only daughter, he immediately went.

When he showed up at the mansion, he was amazed that the man would even think of doing such a thing as gambling with his own daughter, the man was obviously very rich. He'd heard about the man at the inn he was staying at, he was an Earl, Earl de Warren actually, he used to be a very rich man, now he was addicted to gambling and he'd gambled away his entire life savings, all of the furniture in his home, his maids and butlers, and now with nothing left to gamble with, he resorted to using his daughter, he was so sure of himself that he would win this, but even some of the best gamblers came all this way for the man's daughter, apparently she was a beauty and her looks would probably stay with her forever, so men we're rushing at the chance to win a beautiful flower.

When he walked into the large mansion, the room was filled with cigar smoke and the smell of brandy. He made his way into the gambling room, the little girl was standing on a pedestal, wearing a little gown made of green silk, her fiery red hair piled on top of her head in curls, the little girl was crying silently, but he instantly admired her, because her head was being held high.

Jean won throughout the night, and as he walked out of the mansion holding the little girl's hand, he looked down at her. "You remind me so much of a fox, little girl. Please, do not be frightened, I will not harm you, please do tell me your name."

The little girl looked up at him, her gray eyes still full of tears, "Mi name is Elise, sir. Please, why canna stay wif me mum?"

"Trust me, Elise, you'll thank me one day."

Elise woke up with the sun beaming down on her face, she stretched and yawned loudly before hopping down from the tree she had made a bed in. It was going to be a beautiful day she concluded looking up at the blue sky.

She needed to get a move on, those boys were slowly catching up to her, and she wasn't quite yet done with her cat and mouse game yet.

No, there was a small group of Nazi's hanging out a mile from here, and she felt she needed to start her day with a small scrimmage before she finally decided to show herself to her followers. She smiled widely as she grabbed her guns off the ground where she had hid them, before Jean was took he had taught her everything she needed to know about guns, throwing knives, and stealth. He was a revolutionist, and the more the world started changing, the more things he taught her. Before he was taken away from her ten years ago, he gave her many gifts, he had custom made two gun holsters that strapped around her thighs, she also had one that criss crossed her back and the guns sat right underneath her arms. He also gave her two rifles, several throwing knives that he made bands for so that she could wear them under her sleeves. The one thing he always told her, is to always keep her husband in the dark about her skills, because most men don't like that about women.

Apart from all her killing skills he sent her to the most famous art school, and he taught her frequently, she painted nonstop her entire life, never knowing anything more other than to paint out her feelings, about politics, and about life. Never taking anything for granted.

She sighed heavily as she put all of her guns in the right places and started making her way to the unsuspecting Nazi's that were eating their breakfast.

Dieter was sitting in his office, his fingers were digging into his temples, he had the worst headache. He was waiting on news to come back about the search for Elise. It had been 4 months since he returned to his home and walked into a living nightmare. All of the soldiers were slaughtered, he instantly ran upstairs scared to death of what he'd find in his room, terrified that Elise was dead too.

The room was empty, so he ran back downstairs screaming at the soldiers to search the house for any survivors.

"In here sir!" he ran into the kitchen, his maids and butlers, cooks and gardeners were all tied up and gagged.

He ran to Rosie and pulled the gag out of her mouth, "Rosie, what happened here? Where is Elise?!"

Rosie looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "Sir, Mrs. Hellstrom did this! She tied all of us up and then started killing all those men! Slaughtered them she did! She came back down here covered in blood and told us she was sorry and left!!" the poor woman broke down into hysterics. He could not believe that his sweet little wife could do such a thing.

Dieter sighed heavily as he placed his head on his hands and closed his eyes, trying to not remember the horrible sight or the heartbreak that he still harbored deep down in his chest. He sat back up and pulled the note that Elise had left on her pillow before she committed the crimes.

"_Don't worry, Miene Liebe, I will come back to finish my job." _

He wished she would come and kill him, it would get rid of this terrible headache.

The newspaper that sat in front of him, the headline was screaming at him.

** The Fo**x **has struck again! This time killing 12 soldiers, no survivors, all slaughtered like sheep. Where will he strike next?**

Both Dieter and Landa decided not to tell the papers that The Fox was in fact a woman, they didn't want the Fuher to know that a woman was killing all of these soldiers, on her own.

He sighed again and tossed the paper into the disposal bin beside his desk.


	6. Part 6: Apple Core

"Lieutenant, I really don't think we are going to find this guy! I mean for fuck's sake this guy has alluded us for 2 weeks now, he doesn't want to hear us out." Donowitz whined from the back of the group of men that were scouring the wooded area in search of this so called Fox.

"Donny, if you don't stop a'whinin you're staying at the damn camp from now on, ya hear?" Aldo replied. He heard Donny grumble under his breath, but said no more. Aldo understood where he was coming from, this guy has avoided them every time they thought they got close, but damn it, Natzi killers had to stay together to stay alive in this world, hell even Hugo understood that much. This guy had a lucky streak, but it was soon gonna run out and Aldo wanted him to stay alive.

"Lieutenant, there is some blood over here." Wicki yelled out from ahead. The men instantly got their guns ready as they walked over to where Wicki was standing. Aldo looked at the blood that was on the ground, and started looking around. "It's fresh, boys, keep your eyes open."

All the men started looking around for some sign of where the blood came from, when all of the sudden a female voice startled them all out of their wits. "I take it you men are looking for me."

Everyone jumped and aimed their guns to where the voice came from, but none of them were expecting what they found. Sitting on a tree branch that they had all just walked right under, was a beautiful woman just lounging eating an apple, as if the men weren't sitting there with guns aimed at her.

They all were just staring at her with their mouths hanging open like a dying fish when she tossed her apple core to the ground before jumping from the tree and landing on her feet as gracefully as a cat. "Close your mouth, boys. You look like cod fish." She said as she started picking up guns from around the tree that they had just walked beside.

Aldo couldn't believe that all of his men missed this woman sitting there in plain sight; she could have killed them all before they knew what happened.

Elise was trying to be very patient, but it wasn't working out for her. These men were staring at her like she was going to disappear at any minute. She finally attached her last gun back to the holster on her thigh before she turned back around and put her hand on her hip and stared back at all of these men.

"Holy shit, Lieutenant…..The Fox is a woman." The largest man said, she had caught on that his name was Donny.

"What were you expecting? You've been following me for two weeks and you didn't know?" she was getting tired, she thought they really needed something, I mean they had been following her for two weeks now, they should have caught onto this by now.

Then the Lieutenant spoke up, "Now I'm sorry about our manners, darling. The papers led us to believe you were a man. None of us here have seen a woman in so long, we lost our wits 'bout us. We just ain't prepared to accept that a woman of your…well..size to have dun all that killin'. Is there some 'un else we need to be looking for?" Aldo looked around expecting her partner to come out at any minute and shoot them all.

Instead, the woman laughed, a high crystalline laugh that chilled his heart, because it wasn't a laugh of joy, it held no emotion; her gray eyes had absolutely no glint in them.

Her face looked tired, so very tired. She was wearing a loose white long sleeved shirt, it looked too big on her, her gray pants were a few shades darker than her eyes and, black boots that looked like they didn't have any padding on the bottom.

She had several guns attached to her, and blood splattered all over the front of her, a few droplets had stained her face. She was struggling to keep her wild red hair from blowing into her eyes so she could keep watching the men.

"Sir, I can only account for my actions, and you've read about them all I'm sure. Now, if you men have nothing else you need to say to me, then I have work to do." She slung her rifle over her shoulder and started to walk the other way.

"Now just gimmie one minute here, darling." Aldo said taking a step towards her. It worked, she turned around and looked at him. "We've been looking for you for awhile now, I think you should at least hear us out." She was giving him her attention, so he continued. "You probably know who we are, we're the Basterds. Now we've been trying to find you, we hear that them nat'zi's have it out hard for you. We're really damn good, and we wanted to know if you wanted to combine forces. Ain't nothing worse than nat'zi killers banding together, right?"

The girls' eyes just grew colder, she was actually unnerving him. "You are right, Aldo Raine. I'll join you, but the first one of your men that touches me, will lose their fingers instantly. You men know what I'm doing, never stand in my way, I won't hesitate to shoot one of you to finish my job, understand?" she had a French accent that had a tinge of Irish brogue to it.

Hugo was interested in figuring out her story.


	7. Part 7: Blood Bath

Aldo led Elise back to their camp. He was mad at her at the moment, because she was refusing to tell them her name. She didn't care what they called her, but if she told them her real name, they would figure out who she really was and her intentions would be questioned.

The men stayed quiet the walk back, but that didn't mean they didn't stare. She swore that if they weren't going to be useful to her, she would have shot them all by now and stomped off to find herself a tree to sleep in for the night. But alas, these men were vital to her staying alive, and finding a way to kill Landa and all the men that were involved that night. She vowed she would figure it out.

"Well now, ma'am, this is our hide out. It ain't much, but there is a small creek down that hill if ya need to wash off, my men know better than to mess wit' ya. We all have shifts to watch out fer someone to be comin' up on our camp. So if you want in on it, feel free to talk to Wicki about it, he's the head of it. We got food over here, and some extra clothes and blankets if ya need anything." Aldo said pointing to everything as he mentioned it. Elise desperately needed to wash this blood off her, it was getting itchy, and she hated it. The only blood she wanted to be covered in was Hans Landa's and her husbands'.

"I think if I can trust your word, Lieutenant that I want to go wash off in the stream, if you don't mind."

Aldo smiled and shook his head, "No problem to me, darlin'. Hugo will walk with ya, he'll keep an eye for any peepin' toms. He won't peek either, I can swear on my honor that he won't." he said holding his hand out to her.

She shook it and started walking down towards the stream, she was guessing that Hugo was following her, she never turned around, she heard him stop, but she was taking too much time staring at the stream and imagining how good it was going to feel to wash all this blood off of her.

Finally when she made it to the bank she turned to see Hugo with his back to a tree and watching up the hill. It made her feel better that he was actually being honorable. She stripped off her clothes and started to soak her shirt to get the blood out. Then being the girl she was, slowly stepped into it. It was cold at first, but the deeper she got the better it felt. She was washing off when she heard some movement to the left of her, on the other side of the stream.

She slid down farther into the water and tried to figure out what it was, she looked towards Hugo and he was still standing with his back to her, obviously not hearing the movement that she did.

Her clothes and guns were a few feet from her, there was no way she'd make it over to them before whomever or whatever was out there would get to her.

She thought about yelling at Hugo, but these men were already thinking she was incapable of helping herself, so that would do nothing but prove them right. So instead she slowly started making her way over to her guns.

She was only a foot away from it when the man jumped out from the bushes and towards her. Elise only had time to react, she jumped for her gun and felt her hand land on top of her pistol, the man was charging through the water and she started shooting, her shots proved true, she hit him in the head and heart, he landed with a loud splash beside her, she felt his warm blood splatter over her body as she stared at the face of a young German soldier.

"What the fuck? Are you ok?" she heard Hugo coming up behind her, but instead of turning around she grabbed her big shirt and flung it over her head before she stood up and faced him.

Hugo stopped and just stared at her, he had never seen anything so breathtaking. Her wet hair fell down her shoulders, soaking her white shirt. She looked distressed when she first turned around, but in the blink of an eye, her face went blank. Her eyes cold and bottomless, he couldn't help but stare.

He heard the other men running down the hill, she turned her cold stare to them which made them all stop and stare at her too.

She huffed before she tossed her slender hand on her waist, "Well gentlemen, are you going to keep staring at me, or go make sure there are no more of these men sniffing around your campsite, or would you rather me do it, seeing on how I'm the only one capable of shooting someone when needed?"

It was Hugo that answered, "I'm really sorry, fraulein, I heard the movement, I just thought it was you, and I wasn't trying to be rude and look. I thought our only danger was the men trying to get a sneak peek, my apologies." He bowed his head toward her.

For a split second, her eyes got a glint in them, but before he could translate it, the glint was gone and the cold look was back. "Maybe you just need to pay more attention, we are the biggest threat around here." With that Elise grabbed her pants and pulled them on and carried her boots back up the hill with her, leaving all the men standing there staring.


	8. Part 8: Call Me Rose

The men kept stealing quick looks Elise as she braided her fiery red hair into a thick braid, Donny finally leaned over to Wicki, "So what do you think made her snap? She's a pretty girl, has the accent of someone well bred, how the hell does a girl like that end up becoming one hell of a killer?"

Wicki looked up at the girl that had her back to all of the men finishing her hair and thought about Donny's question before he answered, "The only thing I can decide is that the Nazi's killed someone dear to her, the war does crazy things to people, Donowitz ."

Donny just nodded his head as he took another bite of the bread in his hand while he kept staring at her.

…..

When Elise spoke to Wicki about her watch, he informed her that she would be joining Hugo Stiglitz, of course she knew who he was, and she was without a doubt if he found out her real name, he would instantly knew who she was, and he would probably kill her instantly.

So as a younger boy woke her up, I think she discovered his name was Utivich, and told her it was her turn, she stood up and started off into the woods with her guns attached.

Hugo slowly caught up to her and just walked with her in silence.

They walked in silence for a long time before he spoke up, "Are you Jewish?"

"No."

"Me neither."

"I know"

Hugo became silent again trying to decide what he should say next, then finally he decided to become straight forward. "If you're not Jewish, then why are you doing this?"

"The Gestapo took my father, and my life." Elise knew that it was a lie, but it would just have to work.

"Ah, how did you learn to kill? You're too pretty to have gone through military training."

Elise stopped and turned to look at him, "My father taught me everything I know, why are you asking me so many questions?"

Hugo stared at her for a minute, "I can't help but find it odd that a girl of your stature is a killing machine."

"What do you mean my stature?" She put her hand on her hip.

He almost smiled at the gesture, "Beautiful, your accent suggests that you were brought up in a very educated environment, you walk with an air of authority, and you're very well mannered, except for the occasional attitude."

"None of my background is your business." She quickly turned back around and started walking again, he started to laugh, apparently he had hit a sore spot.

"And what do you find funny?" She asked over her shoulder.

"You're trying too hard to not get close to any of us, let us know anything about you, and for once I guessed something right."

"I don't get close to anyone, I don't plan on surviving this war, Sergeant."

Hugo got silent after that.

….

Elise had been with them for almost a month and after the first week, she started coming around. She drank with the men at night, cracked jokes on Donny constantly, and every night, Hugo talked to her about life, she never spoke about hers, but she listened to his and occasionally commented. He knew she didn't plan on living through this, but now that he had started to get to know her in a way, he wanted her to make it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life trying to figure her out, but she was determined to not let that happen.

Aldo knew what was happened before Hugo even realized it, Hugo was falling in love with a red haired demon that killed men faster than he could, without an ounce of remorse or regret. Aldo was pretty pleased about it, he knew that most of these men were far from home and missing a woman's touch, but he knew that these two were in far more need of comfort than the rest. Elise and Hugo were both wounded, in some way or another, betrayed in more ways than one, and they needed someone to trust. Aldo of course knew that Fox was keeping a deep dark secret, but she seemed pretty harmless when it came to them, and he knew that they were making each other happy in some way, so he left it alone.

….

"Are you ever going to tell me your name, or am I to forever call you Fox?"

Elise thought about it, "Rose."

"Is that your real name?"

"No"

Hugo sighed heavily, "Then why am I supposed to call you Rose?"

"I didn't say you had to, I prefer Fox, but if that offends you, then you can call me Rose, I used to own a large rose garden back home, so I thought that would be a good nickname."

"Where did you live?"

"Ireland, France, Germany, I've traveled a lot in my days."

"Where did you call home before the war began, before you started this?"

"Germany"

"Must have owned a pretty nice place to have been able to have a rose garden"

"Yes"

Hugo realized that was as much as he was going to get out of her, "You know we are supposed to meet with that spy next week?"

"Yes"

Hugo finally reached out and grabbed her arm and turned her to him, "If this turns out to be a trap, I don't want to go in there without having kissed you."

He seen her eyes go wide before he pushed his lips against hers in a soft kiss, for a few seconds he felt her stiffen up, then very slowly, she relaxed into the kiss and melted into it.

….

Elise didn't know what to do at first, it had been so long since she'd been kissed, and the fire that spread from her lips to the rest of her body scared her.

Then it hit her, the passion that she had long since forgotten and she started to kiss him back, wrapping her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair, holding his head to her.

He pulled away and whispered into her lips, "I love you, Rose. I don't know anything about you, but I love you."

Elise felt her heart explode and she pulled him back into the kiss. Slowly he lowered her on to the ground, and right then and there Elise gave her heart to this man, and they made love underneath the stars, holding each other close, and Elise gave every ounce of love in her to him, she knew she wouldn't have much longer to live, but she was going to die one very happy girl.


	9. Part 9: Damn Nat'zi Spy

Aldo was sitting up against a tree, knowing that he should get some sleep, but for some reason he couldn't. He looked around at the boys that were asleep, dreaming of home, except for Donny who was probably dreaming of bashing in the next Nazi's head.

"Lieutenant?" Aldo turned his head and looked up at Wicki's tall frame standing beside him.

"Yes Wicki?"

"Fox just went through the woods, armed. Headed west, I thought it was odd, so I came to you."

Aldo sat there for a minute before rising, "Well let's see what the Fox has up her sleeve tonight, lead the way."

….

Elise crouched behind the bushes staring at the soldiers in front of her, about 8 of them she counted, but the one she wanted was their Officer, one of Dieter's men. Linder, the only one that she had actually liked, he was funny and kind, but he had a hand in that night, and she was ready to get her revenge.

Taking a breath, she took off into the shadows and started her work.

…..

Aldo and Wicki kneeled behind and watched as Fox appeared and disappeared into the shadows like a ghost, slicing the throats of the men that were on the outskirts of the camp. She moved with such stealth and grace that it amazed Aldo, when they were attacking a camp he was always too preoccupied to pay attention to her, but now that he was watching it happen he realized how she had stayed alive for so long on her own.

They watched as she killed man after man until there was only one left. The one in charge, they watched as she walked out from the shadows covered in the other soldiers blood and faced the man. He seen the look of recognition on the man's face before he kneeled down onto the ground and hung his head in defeat.

Aldo exchanged a look of confusion with Wicki before turning his attention back to Fox as she just walked up and squatted down in front of the man and started talking.

….

"I always knew you would come for me, Fraulein."

"You want me to kill you, don't you?"

Linder looked up into her cold steel eyes and started to weep, "Elise, I never wanted any part of this, of what happened to you. I knew you kept that family in your studio, I think deep down Dieter knew as well, but refused to believe it. Kill me Elise, and let me meet my Maker."

Elise nodded and with such precision she reached across and took the blade across his throat. As the life fled from his eyes, she sat down in front of him and started to cry.

"I think you have some 'splainin to do, _Elise."_

Elise whipped around, pistol in hand to stare in horror at Aldo and Wicki standing there staring at her with realization on their faces…she just started to cry harder.

Aldo sat down beside her, and Wicki sat on the other side, "Now you're going to tell me what the hell is going on here, because right now I have half a mind to shoot ya."

Aldo waited patiently for her to compose herself and when she did she finally looked up at them, "My name is Elise Hellstrom, my husband is Major Dieter Hellstrom of the Gestapo."

Aldo went pale and felt like he was going to be sick, then without thinking about it he leaned over and smacked her across the face.

Instantly he regretted it as he watched her head snap to one side. "You're married to a damn nat'zi! What'd he do, send ya out here to kill us? Are you a damn assassin?"

"No…I'm not." She whispered, which just further pissed him off, he was about to slap her again when Wicki grabbed his arm.

"Just let her talk."

Aldo just nodded and sat his hand on his leg and waited for her to explain herself.

She finally took a shaky breath and began, "I met Dieter before the war had even begun, I was just an art student in the best art school in all of France, he had just enlisted. We got married not long after, he never told me what they were doing, for months I had no idea about the camps or that Hitler had begun to murder all of the Jews, it wasn't until some Jewish friends of mine that I had went to school with wrote me a letter and told me. I was furious, I wouldn't look at him, speak to him, and finally I got a letter from my friend saying that they were on the run, so I took them in. I had a huge art studio in our house that I kept locked, saying that if he stepped in it would ruin my inspiration, my peace. For months I would sneak food and clothes in there for them. Then that damned Hans Landa came to visit, he found them and dragged them into the yard. They dragged the children down by their hair." Elise started to cry again and furiously wiped the tears from her eyes as she continued, "I fought them, two soldiers grabbed me and one started hitting me, to try and get me to stop fighting. They lined them up in the yard, Dieter came home and I begged him to at least spare the children, the boy was only two, the girl had just turned five. He knocked me out with the butt of his gun, I awoke to their bodies in my front yard. Dieter, Landa, and Frederick Zoller left the house that night, leaving most of Landa's soldiers there, so I pulled my trunk out with all of the weapons my father gave me before they took him from me, and I slaughtered the men before I left."

Elise then started sobbing into her hands leaving Wicki and Aldo sitting there staring at her, completely speechless. "Please don't tell Hugo…I love him so much, and I don't plan on living through this war, and he would believe that I betrayed him and never forgive me…Please."

Aldo leaned over and placed his hand on hers, "You have my word."

And then they followed her to the riverbanks as she washed the blood from her skin and they headed back to the camp in silence.


End file.
